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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



October, 1917 



PO S S I BLY 

 some who 

 expect to be 

 b e g i n n e rs in 

 beekeeping may 

 v/onder why I 

 do not devote 

 one lesson at 

 least to the ques- 

 tion of selling. Tins I do not consider 

 necessary, for every beginner worthy of 

 the name is enthusiastic. He reads bees, . 

 thinks bees, and — talk b?es. It is this 

 contagious enthusiasm that sells honey, and 

 everj^ beginner, without really being con- 

 scious of it, is really creating a market that 

 will take more honey than he can produce 

 for several years, the least of his worries 

 is getting rid of his crop; Avhat concerns 

 him the most is in producing enough honey 

 to supply the demand right at his own 

 door. There are, however, a few " don'ts " 

 that sliould be observed by every amateur 

 honej^ salesman. 



Don't sell your honey for less than the 

 market price. Give it away to your friends 

 if you want to, but don't hurt some other 

 fellow's business by selling honey to any 

 one for less than it is worth. 



Don't sell to a gi'oeer and then turn 

 around and retail from house to house to 

 the grocer's own customers, or at less than 

 the grocer's price. 



Don't peddle honey in a town without' 

 first, finding out whether you can do so 

 without a license. 



Don't spend $5.00 in advertising when 

 you have only a hundred pounds of honey 

 to sell. 



Don't sell honey that has a scum on the 

 top. You may know that the scum is 

 made up of bubbles of air, but it looks bad. 



Don't ship your honey away if you can 

 sell it locally at a much better price. 



Don't sell honey locally if you can shij) 

 it at a much better price. 



SUPPLYING WINTER STORES. 



Most of the experienced and successful 

 beekeepers unite in saying that supplying 

 an abundance of good stores is by far the 

 iTi'Ost important requisite for successful 

 wintering. In a few localities that have 

 no fall honey flow to keep up brood-rearing, 

 feeding must be done in Septeiuber to in- 

 sure a good strong force of vigorous young 

 bees before the cold weather comes on. A 

 bushel of old worn-out bees would not come 

 out a strong colony in the spring, no matter 

 liow favorable other conditions might be. 



Early in October every colony should be 

 looked over carefully to make sure there are 

 enough stores. Paying no more attention 



to a colony after 

 the first of Sep- 

 tember is rarelj' 

 safe. Thirty- 

 five to 40 lbs. of 

 honey in the 

 combs for 

 strong colonies 

 is none too 

 much. Several years ago I was making 

 an experiment in feeding back extracted 

 honey to get some unfinished sections filled 

 out and comphted. Eight different colo- 

 nies scattered about in one of our outyards 

 Avere fed every day all the thinned honey 

 that they Avould store. They finished up 

 considerable comb honey and of course stor- 

 ed their brood-combs solid. The next 

 spiing our apiarist reported that there were 

 some half dozen colonies that had gone 

 away ahead of any of the others in the yard, 

 and he suggested that it must be due to the 

 queens. It turned ' out that these extra- 

 strong colonies were the ones that had been 

 fed so lavishly the fall before. 



There have been scores of patents issued 

 to beekeepers for various complicated feed- 

 ers ; in fact, several thousand dollars have 

 been Avasted in obtaining patents along 

 this line. In the March 1st issue of Glean- 

 ings for 1915, J. L. Byer described on 

 page 194 his i^lan of feeding, making use 

 of five or ten. pound frietion-toiJ pails, the 

 lids being punched full of holes. I do not 

 know whether the idea originated with Mr. 

 Byer, but certain it is that this simple, in- 

 expensive method of supplying winter 

 stores has become very popular. The lids 

 are punched full of l-16th holes or finer 

 from the inside so that the inner surface 

 of the lid is smooth. These cans when 

 filled with thick syrup (at least tAVo parts 

 of sugar to one of water) are turned ujiside 

 doAvn either directly over the top-bars of 

 the brood-frames or over the hole in the 

 escape-board or inner cover. If the lid fits 

 tightly the syrup can not run out except 

 as the bees take it, and be sure the lid does 

 fit tight. 



The i^ails themselves cost nothing, as 

 they may be used later for shipi^ing honey, 

 the lids only being kept over from year to 

 year. These extra lids are inexpensive, 

 and take but a very small amount of room 

 Avhen they are stored away. Friction-top 

 pails are being used more and more for 

 honey. They are easy to fill, easy to 

 handle, and the consumer after he empties 

 the honey out has a pail that he can use. 

 Best of all, no extra equipment is necessary 

 for feeding. Many beekeepers succeed in 

 producing honey in paj'ing quantities and 



